Enterprising Young Women
by Artemis Sherwood
Summary: Narmada Thompson and Diana Scott are new crew members on the USS Enterprise. They become even closer friends during their travels through space and Diana even falls in love. But what happens when Khan enters their lives and ruins everything? (Starts pre-Into Darkness. No slash. Kirk/OC/Bones)


Diana Scott looked nervously at her friend, Narmada Thompson. She tried to smile, but ended up grimacing instead. Narmada raised a single eyebrow in silent questioning.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Diana said pleadingly. "I'm nervous. Really nervous. What if nobody likes me? What if the _captain_ doesn't like me? What if I-"

"You'll do fine. You graduated with great grades and all your instructors recommended you be on the _Enterprise_, which is the ship where all the best Federation officers and cadets are supposed to go."

"Yeah, but-"

"No 'buts'! You're going to be a fantastic ship's counselor, Diana. Don't worry!"

The two girls entered the large transporter room, the doors hissing closed behind them. Narmada stepped onto the transporter pad, Diana following close behind as she didn't want to be left behind. Neither girl had been beamed anywhere before in their lives and Diana was the only one slightly worried about having her atoms rearranged in the middle of space.

Diana's heart was pounding heavily in her chest. All her life she had dreamed of travelling beyond earth and into the stars. Now her lifelong dream was becoming a reality and she couldn't have been more terrified. So much was still unknown about those stars she used to gaze at out of her bedroom window and she herself was so small and insignificant. Anything could happen out in space. Anything at all.

* * *

Captain James T. Kirk and his first officer, Spock, were waiting inside the transporter room where Scotty was currently beaming aboard the two newest additions to the crew of the _Enterprise_. Jim was extremely pleased that he was receiving two new cadets that were, according to his superiors, "above average in their specified area of studies". And according to their official Starfleet portraits, they were both somewhat attractive young women.

The captain turned to his half-Vulcan first officer and asked, "Does my uniform look wrinkled to you, Spock?"

"No, sir," Spock replied blankly. "May I ask why?"

"You may ask," Jim said with a wide grin. When his friend didn't respond, he sighed dramatically. "Spock, that's a joke. You're supposed to laugh."

"I did not find your joke amusing, Captain."

"If you must know, I wanted to look even more handsome than I normally do. I asked because I found this uniform balled up in the corner of my room last night."

"And this would not have anything to do with the fact that our two newest additions to the crew are female, now would it?"

Jim gasped and put a hand over his heart. "Spock, I'm wounded! To think that you would insinuate that the only thing I think about is women-"

"Is completely accurate. Now I suggest that you remain as professional as you can manage, Captain, because they are about to beam aboard."

Kirk hastily straightened his dress uniform, displayed his most famous smirk, and cleared his throat. Beams of gold whirling around the outlines of two female figures appeared on the transporter pad in front of the two officers. Within seconds, two young women had appeared before Jim's eyes and he was already prepared to lay on the charm. One wore a yellow shirt and black pants, much like his, Chekov, and Sulu's uniforms, her silky black hair pulled back in a single braid that reached her waist. The other girl wore a blue shirt similar to McCoy's and black pants, her chocolate-colored hair cut short, angling downward from the nape of her neck and ending an inch below her chin with fluffy bangs that ended right above her eyebrows.

"Ah, ladies. I'm Captain James T. Kirk of the _USS Enterprise_. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

The two women stepped off the platform and stood at attention in front of their superior officers. "Permission to come aboard, sir," the one with the braid said formally.

"Granted, of course, Cadet Thompson." He looked at the second girl and grinned. "And to you as well, Counselor Scott."

They both nodded and replied with a sharp, uniform, "Sir!"

"Are you glad ready to begin your duties on board, ladies?" Kirk asked politely.

Cadet Thompson nodded and Counselor Scott just looked shyly up at him from beneath her lashes. He noticed the faintest of blushes on the counselor's cheeks and felt his grin grow wide. "Now before we discuss anything else, I request that you call me Jim when we are not on the bridge."

"Sir, I do not believe that is entirely appropriate seeing as you're our superior officer and captain," Cadet Thompson retorted.

Jim's grin disappeared. "You're not Vulcan, are you?"

"I am entirely, one hundred percent human, Captain."

"Thank God. Having this one-" he pointed to Spock "-around is bad enough." Spock only sighed and rolled his eyes, finding the captain's sense of humor to be entirely ridiculous. Kirk looked at Diana Scott curiously, noticing that she was avoiding his gaze. "And you, Miss Scott? Do you object to calling me Jim?"

"Uh, well…" The captain noticed rather happily the dark blush spread across her face. "I don't know if that's entirely proper, sir, since you're my captain. I don't know that I'd feel entirely comfortable-"

"I insist, Miss Scott."

She glanced, unsure, at her friend and then at Spock. The first officer took this chance to introduce himself to the young lady. Jim noticed her blush lessen and couldn't help but be pleased with himself; he charmed another one.

"The ship will be ready to depart soon, Captain," Spock began. "I suggest we show our new crew members to their quarters."

"Yes, of course." Jim smiled and motioned for the three to follow him. "Cadet, we'll stop by your quarters first."

* * *

Once Narmada had looked through her room and found all of her belongings that she had sent ahead of her, she left the group to go to her station in Engineering and Spock left to go to the bridge. This left Diana alone with the Captain, which meant she was incredibly nervous and therefore even more prone to tripping over her own feet than she normally was.

"So, I understand you just recently graduated from Starfleet," Kirk stated conversationally.

Diana nodded. "Yes, sir. Just a few months ago, actually."

"I take you're a bit nervous."

"I am. I-I've never-… I haven't-… This is, uh, a bit new for me, sir. But I can assure you that I'm fully prepared to serve on this ship, sir."

Jim chuckled. "I'm sure you are. You were highly recommended by all of your instructors, including Admiral Pike."

The new counselor stopped in her tracks, her jaw slightly open. "Admiral Pike recommended me?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes. He had nothing but good things to say about you and specifically requested that I accept you as counselor on the _Enterprise_."

Diana felt tears form in her eyes and silently willed them to go away. "He was very kind to say that about me," she murmured, feeling touched that the man she had come to think of as her father figure was so interested in her career.

Kirk nudged her playfully in the arm with his elbow and smiled. "What he failed to mention is how pretty you are. I mean, really. Blue is a very nice color on you. It really goes well with your eyes."

A raging blush returned to Diana's face and she continued walking, hoping the captain wouldn't notice how flattered she was by his compliments. And speaking of uniforms, no one had ever looked _that _good in one before! Diana was almost starting to wish her captain wasn't so handsome. If she met another male on this ship even half as attractive as Captain Kirk, she was sure she'd implode.

Jim caught up to her with a boyish grin on his face. "You certainly blush a lot, don't you?"

Diana briefly glanced at him, her mind suddenly going blank when their eyes locked. She opened her mouth to reply, but found that not a single word came to mind. She mentally cured herself for reverting into a star struck teenager when her new captain suddenly reached forward with a gasp, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her backwards into an awkward embrace.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You almost ran into that bar there. You could've fallen and gotten seriously hurt."

Sufficiently embarrassed, Diana turned beet red again and looked down to avoid Jim's piercing blue eyes.

"I'm sorry.," she mumbled. "I was trying to think of a witty response to what you said and-…"

She suddenly realized how close she was to the captain and pulled out of his arms. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw that they were on a raised walkway with waist-high bars to hold onto and to prevent anyone from falling over the edge like she nearly had.

"I apologize again, Captain. It won't happen again."

Jim nodded silently and began walking again. Diana followed silently as she mentally berated herself for being so clumsy around her captain. Her internal rant soon escaped her mind and she began mumbling angrily. "Great first impression, Di. Almost get yourself killed on your first day. That's brilliant. Maybe you should try tripping over air. I'm sure that'd _really _impress the captain! Some ship's counselor I've turned out to be." Ahead of her, the captain didn't seem to hear her mumbling. Or if he did, he kindly kept it to himself.

Within five minutes, they had arrived at her new living quarters. Diana had never been so relieved to get away from an attractive man before in her life. She entered the room and saw her two bags of personal belongings close to the door.

"If everything is in order, Counselor, I'll leave you here," Captain Kirk said, leaning casually against her doorway with a smile.

"Yes. Of course." She turned to face him, her cheeks still red. "I'm sorry to have kept you, sir."

"It's Jim, and don't worry about it. You can spend today settling in. Tomorrow I want you on the bridge at 0800 hours." He grinned and waved at her.

"Yes, sir."

"I told you already, it's Jim."

He was gone with a flirtatious wink and the doors hissed closed behind them. Diana ran a hand over face and groaned. She picked up her bags and dragged them over to her bedroom, which was separated from the main entrance by a waist-high blockade topped and a gold wire lattice-work above it. After falling face first onto her bed, Diana decided she could have had a much worse first day; she could have died.

**AN: Hey, so creative license is my best friend right now. This story is based, obviously, on Star Trek: 2009 and Star Trek: Wrath of Khan. I've seen the Original Series and the Next Generation, so I took some liberties on my own quite limited knowledge. So yeah. Flames will be used to make mac'n'cheese and other delicious things.**


End file.
